Han Dong-hoon accuses Democratic Party of hiding 'unlimited warrantless arrest' provision

Independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon said Sunday that the Democratic Party had hidden a "bomb" — a provision that would allow police to conduct unlimited warrantless emergency arrests.

In a Facebook post that day, Han said, "In the world the Democratic Party is creating, police will be able to arrest citizens without a warrant, without limit, with no oversight or checks. We must stop this from happening."

Han was referring to an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure introduced July 9 by lawmakers on the Democratic Party's criminal procedure reform TF, which is currently under review by the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee. The proposed amendment also includes the abolition of prosecutors' security investigation authority.

Under current law, police must immediately report to a prosecutor when a suspect arrested under emergency provisions is released without a detention warrant being sought. The proposed amendment would change that requirement from a "report" to a mere "notification."

On this, Han said, "Right now, if police arrest a citizen without a warrant, they must obtain a prosecutor's approval within 12 hours, and if that approval is not granted, the suspect must be released," calling it "the minimum safety belt to prevent abuse of emergency arrests and protect citizens' human rights."

Han went on to say that "while pushing to ban supplementary investigations this time, the Democratic Party quietly made it so that police no longer need to obtain a prosecutor's approval after an emergency arrest," adding that the party had "quietly changed 'approval' to a mere post-facto notification."

He warned that "under this arrangement, warrantless emergency arrests by police will inevitably be abused — not because police are bad, but because of the nature of a system in which checks have been dismantled," adding that "citizens will bear the consequences."

Meanwhile, Han had been scheduled to face off against Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Geon-tae in a debate moderated by JTBC on Wednesday at 5 p.m. over the proposed abolition of supplementary investigation authority. The debate fell through after Lee announced he would not participate.